Chapter 1 of a twelve chapter serial that deals with the attempts of a master criminal to gain possession of jewels and gain control over the world with the use of television and radio waves.


This movie is part of the collection: Short Format Films

Producer: Mascot Pictures Corporation
Audio/Visual: sound, b/w
Language: English
Keywords: serial; cliffhanger; crime; mystery; super villain; wax museum; television; radio

Creative Commons license: Attribution 3.0

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Reviewer: billbarstad - - February 16, 2009
Subject: Fun Stuff
This is a very confusing serial, especially in the first episode. It's meant to be that way by the writers and directors. Things clear up as the story progresses. The good guys are after the Whispering Shadow; the bad guys, and some interested parties, are after jewels. Both side, of course, don't get anywhere fast. Some of the interesting points: People get killed remotely; there's remote viewing and remote projection. There's a shipping and receiving warehouse with a Snidley Whiplash sort running an experimental electronics lab. Fight scenes are always shown with the frame rate sped up. And there's the wax museum with a transparency generator and a bunch of guys standing around pretending to be robotic. I couldn't resist watching through to the end.

I downloaded the largest files available. Some of the confusion in the series may be laid to the high compression used - blurriness making it hard to tell one actor from another at times. Video and audio are generally OK, though there is some audio noise and drop-offs. Clips from earlier episodes start appearing in episode 5 and are used thereafter largely for padding.

Reviewer: sciwriter - - May 24, 2008
Subject: Excellent! Truely creative
Keep in mind that the concepts and implementation were created from scratch. What followed in later films were copycats.

Reviewer: Fireball Steve Zodiac - - May 24, 2008
Subject: I like it
A real whipsering shadow, and it's the bad guy. Bela Lugosi plays a bad guy. At the end of this episode some bad guys arrive in an auto gyro on the roof of the building but when they try to take off they get caught in the wires. I mention it because you don't get to see auto gyros. Good popcorn eatin' stuff.

Credits

Directed by
Colbert Clark
Albert Herman

Writing credits:
Colbert Clark story and screenplay
Wyndham Gittens story and screenplay
Norman S. Hall story and screenplay
George Morgan story and screenplay
Barney A. Sarecky story and screenplay

Cast (in credits order)

Bela Lugosi ...Prof. Anton Strang
Viva Tattersall ...Vera Strang
Malcolm MacGregor ...Jack Foster
George J. Lewis ...Bud Foster
Henry B. Walthall ...J.D. Bradley (company president)
Robert Warwick ...Det. Robert Raymond
Roy D'Arcy ...Prof. Alexis Steinbeck
Karl Dane ...Sparks (dispatcher)
Lloyd Whitlock ...Young (henchman #3)
Bob Kortman ...Jasper Slade (escaped convict)
Lafe McKee ...Mr. Jerome (company vice president)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Desmond ...Empire Transport Co. driver
Lionel Backus ...Deane (henchman #4) (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt ...Detective [Ch. 12] (uncredited)
Ethel Clayton ...The Countess [Chs. 5-8] (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps ...Murphy (driver) [Chs. 1, 8] (uncredited)
Gordon De Main ...Detective [Chs. 1, 5-8] (uncredited)
Norman Feusier ...W.B. Jarvis [Chs. 3-6, 12] (uncredited)
Robert Frazer ...Official (uncredited)
Tom London ...Dupont (henchman #5) [Chs. 1-8] (uncredited)
George Magrill ...Mitchell (henchman #2) (uncredited)
George Morrell ...Empire warehouse worker (uncredited)
Eddie Parker ...Driver (uncredited)
Jack Perrin ...Williams (henchman #1) (uncredited)
Max Wagner ...Kruger (henchman #6) (uncredited)